Game On

Game of Thrones Absolutely Did Not Need to Go There with Sansa Stark

Warning: This article is full of details from Season 5, Episode 6 of Game of Thrones, titled “Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken.” Don’t read it unless you’re prepared to be spoiled and are ready for a frank discussion of a particularly upsetting episode of Game of Thrones.

Did they really need to go there on Game of Thrones? Did we really need to see Ramsay Bolton rape Sansa Stark? No, we absolutely did not.

Anyone who has read the books and followed Game of Thrones interviews closely was bracing for this moment. Sansa Stark may not go to Winterfell at all in the novels, but Jeyne Pool—Ramsay’s poor bride in the books whose place Sansa has taken—does get sexually assaulted. And after Alfie Allen (Theon), Iwan Rheon (Ramsay), and Sophie Turner (Sansa) all hinted that something awful and controversial was coming this season, fans who lived through that Cersei/Jaime mishegoss last year were very afraid for Sansa Stark.

The powers that be at Game of Thrones seemed to be aware that this was a controversial decision. Before the season started, Allen said:

There’s something that happens about halfway through this season that
is really going to make huge waves, and people aren’t going to be
happy about it. It’s hard to watch. I bear witness to this thing, and
it’s crazy, sort of having to portray how messed up everyone’s
situation is through my own reactions to what happens. Get ready for
it . . . It can be tough to watch for some people, without a doubt.

And if we can say one positive thing about that scene it’s that Allen nailed his performance. Theon’s horror mirrored our own and the camera—focusing on his reaction—let our minds fill in the blanks.

But as little as any of us wanted to see Sansa physically punished and exploited, was it really important to make that scene about Theon’s pain? If Game of Thrones was going to go there, shouldn’t they at least have had the courage to keep the camera on Turner’s face? Turner described the scene:

There was one scene that I did do which was super, super traumatic,
and I love doing those scenes. It was just really kind of horrible for
everyone to be on set and watch.

Horrible because this rape scene undercuts all the agency that’s been growing in Sansa since the end of last season. She was at the height of her power earlier in the episode when, stripped back down to her red-headed Tully roots, she told Myranda in no uncertain terms that Winterfell was her home and she would not be intimidated. It’s right in line with the Game of Thrones approach to storytelling that Sansa would have the rug pulled out from under her. (Have we forgotten Oberyn so soon?) But did it really have to be rape that brought her low? Is that really the only horror Game of Thrones can imagine visiting on its female characters?

I’d never advocate that Game of Thrones (or any work of fiction) shy away from edgy plots out of fear of pushback or controversy. But edgy plots should always accomplish something above pure titillation or shock value and what, exactly, was accomplished here? Allen said in an interview that this story would position Ramsay as “the new Joffrey in town, and then probably me followed closely after that.” But haven’t we had ample time to understand the depths of Ramsay’s depravity? If, best case scenario, Sansa and Theon (and probably Brienne and Pod) band together to take down Ramsay over the next few episodes, did we really need this rape scene to drive that engine? I think most audiences would have been happy with Sansa as avenging angel without subjecting her to a rape. After all, these are the people who killed her family.

We know that Sansa was horrified at first to go into enemy camp when Littlefinger proposed they return to Winterfell. But she later stiffened her spine and resolved to go along with his plan. She likely expected some unpleasantness from her association but, based on how Turner played the scene two weeks ago, it seemed as though Sansa believed Littlefinger when he told her she had Ramsay wrapped around her finger. (There’s a special hell reserved for Littlefinger in all this.) So whatever horrors Sansa Stark of Winterfell was prepared to face in order to avenge her family, we can safely assume that this wasn’t one of them. An unpleasant wedding night was in the cards—she told Littlefinger she’d be a married woman when he returned—but not even goth Sansa could have seen this dress-ripping, Reek-watching indignity coming.

Even worse than the idea of Sansa needing this to motivate her into vengeance is the notion that the Theon character needed to watch her rape in order to snap out of whatever zombie/Reek fugue state he’s been walking around in. I’m afraid that is the show’s interpretation, based on where the camera lingered. But the last thing we needed was to have a powerful young woman brought low in order for a male character to find redemption. No thank you.

The biggest defense HBO’s Game of Thrones might muster for showing the sexual assault of yet another female protagonist is that “it happens in the books.” And, yes, as I said up top, Ramsay’s bride does get assaulted in the books. She has it much worse than Sansa. But given that the show runners have seen fit to change so much of the book plot this season, “it happens in the books” really isn’t any kind of defense.

Once again, the best case scenario will see Sansa exacting a glorious revenge on the Boltons and Littlefinger for leaving her there. (Though does that count as a happy ending and do we really get those in Game of Thrones?) She might even take up the mantle (hood!) of another avenging angel that’s in the books but absent from the show. But we did not need yet another rape to get us hating Ramsay and on Team Sansa. The biggest indignity of all? The episode was titled after the words of House Martell: “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.” Sansa may not be broken, but two out of three is still very bad.